Khursheed proposes direct Senate elections

ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah on Wednesday proposed direct elections in the Senate polls rather than going for a constitutional amendment to allow voting through a show of hands.
“The constitutional amendment with the sole purpose to stop horse-trading seems improper, as it is the job of political parties to stop the curse of horse-trading rather than usingthe crutches of constitutional amendment to deal with it,” he said while talking to newsmen in his chamber at the Parliament House after chairing a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
Khursheed said the political parties should themselves stop horse-trading and avoid supporting the candidates using money in politics.“All the political parties should sit together to develop a joint stand on horse-trading. The political parties have to set parameters to stop the black sheep in their ranks from using money in politics,” he added.
He said the PPP was ready to help the government to find a viable way out to stop the horse-trading. “If the show of hands procedure was adopted in the Senate elections, it might be challenged in a court.”
He said, on the one hand, the government wanted to stop the horse-trading and, on the other hand, it was fully preparing itself to rig the Gilgit-Baltistan elections.He said the ruling party was going to rig the Gilgit-Baltistan elections. He said the government did not respond to his two letters and appointed its own man as the Gilgit-Baltistan governor and workers as ministers.
Meanwhile, talking to newsmen after meeting a two-member government team comprising Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafiq here, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said his party was not prepared for yet another constitutional amendment after being ‘bitten’ once.
He said suspecting lawmakers of wrongdoing before the upcoming Senate elections was not politically or ethically right.On this occasion, Saad Rafique said the JUI-F chief’s reservations would be conveyed to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He said Fazl’s reservations about action against the Madaris in the backdrop of the National Action Plan (NAP) would also be conveyed to the prime minister.